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Fact check

Is it true: Skull and Bones Society?

Partially True82% confidence

Partly — it's more complicated than the claim suggests.

Skull and Bones (official name: The Order of Skull and Bones) exists, is headquartered in a windowless building (the "Tomb") on Yale's campus, taps 15 senior men (originally men; co-ed since 1992) annually, and has produced a disproportionate number of US elites: George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, John Kerry, William H. Taft, several CIA officers including founding personnel. Alexandra Robbins's Secrets of the Tomb (2002) documented much of the internal history. What is not supported is directive policy coordination — Bush vs. Kerry in 2004 is the clearest case: two Bonesmen opposed each other. Initiation rituals exist and are secret but the sensationalized occult framings lack corroboration.

The claim

A secret senior society at Yale University, founded 1832. Claims of Bush-family/CIA pipelines, elite control of US foreign policy, and occult initiation rituals are partially supported by documented f

Key evidence

Multiple presidents and officials are Bonesmen

2004 election: Bush vs. Kerry, both Bonesmen

Read the full evidence file

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